The Bloody Beginnings of Katy Weston
by PrettyLittleHuman
Summary: Katy Weston lost her parents almost a year ago but she's currently losing her mind. Fate is kind enough to stick the 12-year-old whose family was slaughtered by vampires with a vampire foster parent (plus a few). Damon Salvatore has to deal with the joys of parenting a mean-spirited, rude and snarky girl. Rewrite of "Katy Weston: Bloody Beginnings"
1. Prologue

Prologue

Somewhere deep in the heart of Greensboro, Virginia, in a little cute house, in a blue room was a comfy couch and two chairs with a coffee table stationed between them. In one of the chairs was a therapist with a notepad, on the coffee table were a bunch of scattered Rorschach tests, and on the couch laid a girl with braids who looked less then enthused.

The man had entered the room barely five minutes ago, and silence had filled most of that time. He had introduced himself, but the girl on the couch hadn't been listening and didn't even bother to introduce herself.

The therapist tried to start a conversation for the third time, smiled and looked briefly at his files.

"Katherine, is it? That's a very pretty name."

"Katherine" rolled her eyes at this.

"Katherine if you could please take a look at some of these pictures, I'd be very interested in what you have to say about them."

She looked up at him finally with raised eyebrows, thinking to herself, _Kind of on the nose, don't ya think?_ But the man just kept smiling. With a long, "Pfft" to herself, she sat up from the couch.

"Okay." She said, grabbing the papers and staring at them. There was a look of amusement that briefly flickered across her eyes before she answered her findings on each paper, one by one.

"This one looks like a dick." She flipped to the next page, "This one looks like a dick." Next one, "Looks like a dick. Looks like a dick."

Finally, at the last one, she put all the papers down and stared at the therapist, "Happy now, Freud?"

The therapist had a brief look of shock flash over his eyes before he calmly sighed, "Katherine, I understand that you don't want to be, well from what I gather, feels liking probing to you." He wasn't noticing the sudden stop in the girl's bored playing with the ring on her thumb, and the immediate curling of her lip, "But Katherine, your foster parents are very concerned about you, and maybe if you could just talk to us maybe we can help you-"

Finally, she snapped at the man, "First of all! It's Katy. K-A-T-Y. Space. Weston, bitch." Her finger raised accusingly at him as she glanced briefly at the door where she knew her foster mother were listening, "Second, you don't think the police and therapist they sent in didn't already ask these questions? Why do you think I was held up there for six freakin' days! And they had cookies. So why don't you just go take your little notepad and sh-"

"Katherine!" Called a voice from outside the room, which belonged to Katy's foster mother who stormed in soon after.

"Christine, please remain calm and-" The therapist tried to soothe, but was soon cut off by the dark-haired woman screaming at the girl.

"You do not speak to adults like that, young lady! You will show respect!"

"Why? Most adults are idiots!" Katy screamed right back confidently, "I'm looking at two right now!"

"Everyone please…"

"What is with all the shouting?!" A man named Joseph stormed in.

Katy pursed her lips together briefly and raised her hands in a way that said, _See what I mean?_ As she said aloud to herself and Christine, "Make that three!"

"Everyone, please calm down!" The therapist raised his voice slightly higher to be heard, then relaxed moderately, "I can see we are all tightly wound up right now, I suggest we make an appointment for another day. Here is my card, if you call that number you will reach me directly when she's ready to talk."

The man had handed Mr. Davinport, Katy's other foster parent, a professional looking business card. A card which Katy ripped out of her caretaker's hands, glanced briefly at, then looked spitefully at the therapist.

"I'll save you the trouble of waiting by your phone." She said tearing the card into pieces before letting them fly down to the neat-looking carpet, "Spend that time getting your PhD I noticed it wasn't part of your title, genius."

Christine and Joseph were fuming, but Christine was the first to speak, her arm outstretched to indicate her oncoming command, "Go upstairs and pack your things!"

"Oh finally!" Katy mocked as she ran upstairs angrily, though slowed down to listen in on their conversation.

Christine held her head in her hands, "I can't do this anymore, they've got to find someone else. Nothing will handle that girl!"

Katy scoffed, then muttered to herself, "I hope I was just an appetizer to what kind of kids _you'll_ get."

As the therapist, who had been a friend of their's, calmed them with meaningless platitudes about how they were doing the right thing and how "she needed someone with more discipline" to get better, Katy was practically hopping up the stairs. Mostly because she knew how much Christine hated the noise.

When reaching her room, she grabbed her duffle bag and began to pack. Out from the closet she took her old clothes, and the select few new clothes she did like from Mrs. Davinport, and shoved them in the bag. Next came the now stolen copy Grey's Anatomy, which had sat uselessly on the shelf of the Davinport household and hadn't even been noticed as missing when Katy started using it to fall asleep. That was really more out of spite than anything else.

Finally, Katy crawled under the bed and grabbed two zip-lock bags of stakes and vervain, which she had somehow convinced Mrs. Davinport were supplies for a school art project.

She rolled these things in a few T-shirts before putting them in the duffle bag last.

Fully packed and ready for a trip that wouldn't start until tomorrow morning, Katy took one last thoughtful look at the pristine little blue room, and ripped off the covers of the once made bed to hang off the side.

She nodded to herself in approval.


	2. Chapter One: The Welcome Wagon to Hell

Chapter One: The Welcome Wagon to Hell

 _Three Weeks Later_

The name is Katherine Margaret Weston. You must only call me Katy if you expect to stay uninjured.

At twelve years old, I'd hop-scotched my way through about 4 foster homes in 13 months. Because at eleven (and a half mind you!), I lost my parents. They used to sell blood bags to vampires and one night were killed while I was outside in the car.

Freakin' cheery, huh?

About as cheery as being sent to stay with strangers who smile too much and tell you how sorry they are for you. _Just shut up_ , I'd think, _you are being paid in social brownie points and actual government-funded money to care for me. Don't act like you didn't learn my name just five minutes before I got here._ Can you blame me for being less than impressed with any philanthropic couple who decided to house me or the ten _other_ me's while we were all otherwise parentless?

One of my foster siblings (as one social worker referred to my fellow hostages) Mindy Randell, a girl who was about fifteen and had been the system since she was ten, pretty much summed up our shared foster parents at the time.

"They had a little extra money but can't commit to _real_ kids" She'd said that part bitterly, "So they stick with having some they don't have to keep if we turn out to be too much trouble. Just smile and wait for whatever shit they want us to do next."

The McCladdens were a young active couple who made a living being young and active on Instagram. If you google "Healthy Living with…" you'll probably see their bleach-white smiles somewhere if you scroll down enough. Their shtick was that everything we did had a schedule, and we had to get ourselves active and out there in the world! Again, they were a couple who smiled too much and pretended that everything was just fine with them "as long as we did our best."

Mrs. McCladden certainly changed her opinion after I consistently managed to ruin any Instagram photos she took of us by flipping off the camera. To this day I believe it was rather unfair of her. After all, it was hard enough timing my finger flip just as she took the picture so she wouldn't stop me right before. The hardest part was hacking her smartphone, retrieving the deleted photos and posting them on her wholesome, family-friendly Instagram when she would not.

I'd call that doing my best, wouldn't you?

Needless to say, I earned myself a ticket to my next temp-caretakers after the McCladdens nearly lost half their precious sponsors. From there on I went to the Greens, the Davinports, and now was being shipped off to stay with the Salvatores.

Actually, despite the uniform process of shipping off to a new house yet again, I was intrigued. I was being sent to a little town called Mystic Falls. Frankly, nothing new expect my police escort named Sheriff Forbes.

Come on, even my social worker agreed that kicking Mr. Madison in the nuts was warranted. You don't have to put me under police investigation!

Sheriff Forbes was driving us herself to Mystic Falls, smiling not too much thankfully but her dry description of the town made me wary. "It's a wonderful town with a rich history, very friendly people and everyone knows each other. If you ever need anything you should _never_ hesitate to call."

"Okay." I said, looking out the window at the town. It looked familiar, we must've passed through here once to sell.

Honestly, the history of the place didn't interest me much. Any town can claim a rich history if some famous person happened to pass through there.

"I'm gonna drive you to the Salvatore Boarding House, but first we're gonna stop at the local grill. The Mayor wants to welcome you personally by treating to lunch." Sheriff Forbes told me, clearly trying to get _me_ excited but sounding just as uninterested and irritated as I was.

I did give her a look from the backseat, "Is Damon Salvatore the mayor?" I asked, fairly sure I hadn't seen that bit of info in the files I snuck a look at from my social worker.

"No, he and his wife just like to welcome everyone to town." She said calmly, "They're very excited to meet you."

"Why do they care? I'm not living with them am I?" I stated, more bitterly.

I could practically see Sheriff Forbes counting to a calming 10 seconds in her head before responding to my baiting tone, "No. But like I said, they're excited to meet you and they want to help you get used to town. Consider it your welcome wagon."

 _Wait a minute. Small town with rich history, welcome wagon from the mayor himself, AND free lunch my first day out?_ I thought, my widened eyes slowly clenching shut in frustration as I concluded, _So Hell does exist…_

Let me explain. In my experience, a small town with overly welcoming people generally meant people who smile too much and try to shove themselves down your throat. "Kill 'em with kindness" is the town motto and "barbeque" is the word of the day. As if the previous foster homes they'd sent me to hadn't been cringing enough, they have now sent me to an entire town with a black-belt in wholesome, friendly, suburban family life.

Thanks, Big Brother.

This is the general strategy of most foster homes, they try to stick you in enough places with "ideal family" situations and think you'll end up wanting that and therefore get adopted. As if the biggest obstacle of a foster kid is the lacking desire to be adopted.

I was looking forward to this less and less as the car drove on.

"Is Damon Salvatore going to be there, and what am I in for?" I asked when I decided I didn't like the silence anymore.

Sheriff Forbes paused. _That's reassuring,_ I thought hesitantly to myself.

"He's young." _He's irresponsible._ "One of the Founding Families of Mystic Falls." _He's a rich asshole._ "Recently returned to his hometown." _He'll never be in the house-score one for privacy! Yes!_ "With his brother Stefan."

I concluded from that that Damon Salvatore was an irresponsible, rich asshole, who philanders around, and was possibly gay.

"But he's a respectable member of the town, and I think you and he will get along fine." Sheriff Forbes said, pulling into the driveway of "Mystic Bar & Grill." I unlatched my seatbelt and shifted so I could get my duffle bag over my shoulder.

"Oh honey, you don't need that in here. We can come back for it after lunch." She told me.

I only glared at her and kept a firm grip on the strap, "I'm gonna take it in with me. Just in case." I added the last part.

Sheriff Forbes opened her mouth to argue but apparently decided against it. Instead we climbed out of the car and headed towards the door. I kept an arm's length distance from behind her, watching where she went and following after. The Mystic Bar & Grill was kind of dark for a place with so many windows, in a place as sunny as Virginia, but it had a nice atmosphere. And from the smell, it had good burgers too. The people weren't quite as in your face as I expected, all varying ages at that time of day and all minding their own (or a specific other's) business.

My relief dropped as soon as I saw the dental hygiene commercial sitting at the table I was being led to. It was a man, the mayor I assumed, and his wife by the awkward coordinating yellow suit, tie and dress they were wearing. I would've been less reluctant to talk to them if maybe a switch of who wore what might've been in place, but evidently I was dealing with conventionalists.

Again, _my hell._

The man had dark, short hair with dark eyes and a permanent half smile on his face. The kind of smile that you see people use when posing during a handshake, just wide enough to seem inviting but not too wide to be at all genuine. The woman was kind of similar, in the sense that she had a permanent smile on her face, but this one was so wide that if her teeth weren't tightly clamped together, I could've seen the dark chasm where her brain was supposed to be. Her hair was chin-length and a lighter shade of brown, and her eyes were lighter too. They both looked like people who did everything on purpose. They were pristine, matched, and not a hair was out of place.

They were precisely what I'd imagined the Mayor and his wife of Town-Smiles-Too-Much would look like.

The Mayor stood up from the booth, putting one hand in his pocket and holding the other hand out to me, "Hello Katy, I'm Mayor Lockwood. I'm so glad to finally meet you."

I shook his hand, my lip curling up slightly in disgust since I didn't want to. He kept smiling, releasing my hand and taking his other out of his pocket only to gesture to his wife, who unfortunately also expected me to shake her hand.

"This is my wife, Mrs. Lockwood." The mayor introduced as I reached out to shake her hand. Mrs. Lockwood looked very pleased at the sound of her own name. When I went in for the standard handshake, she instead grabbed the back and front my center palm with her fingers, the top of her own hand face up as if she expected me to kiss it, and she simply said to my silent confusion, "Charmed."

"Yeah, sure. Nice to meet you too." I said hesitantly as I took my hand back and stared at them both. _I really should take a shower later,_ I thought to myself as I held my hand to my stomach, _I don't wanna find out to hard way that this is contagious… Unless it's something in the water… Dammit!_

We all sat down, and immediately I faced interrogation.

"So Katy, how do you like Mystic Falls?" Mrs. Lockwood asked, stirring the straw in her Iced Tea.

"Not much." I said.

Mayor Lockwood looked shocked, "Not much?"

"Richard she hasn't seen anything yet, she's been in a car all day." Sheriff Forbes defended.

I nodded towards her, "What she said."

Mayor Lockwood didn't seem too enthused by my answer, seeming to roll his shoulders forward and shift in his seat. I read a book once where this was described as how weak men signal they are unhappy. I'm already enjoying this town a little bit more now.

"Well, hopefully you'll get to know the town a little better then." Mayor Lockwood said, "As we're very excited to get to know you! Where are you from Katy?"

"The South." I said.

He laughed humorlessly, "Well, we're all from the South Katy, I meant what town are you from? Where did your parents raise you?"

My lip twitched, "Which parents, the real ones or the subs?"

Mrs. Lockwood kept smiling, and let out a weird breathy laugh, "Oh sorry dear, my husband is just so curious about you. We love having new people in town, it being so old and distinguished, we hardly see any new faces."

 _Considering you look like somebody who attends Botox parties, I doubt that._

She's still going though, "It's so nice to meet new people and introduce them to our little town. Isn't it darling?"

The Mayor barely cracks a smile, "Yes dear." Turning over to a guy dressed in black with a white rag attached to his hip, the Mayor snapped his fingers high in the air, "Waiter! We're ready to order."

The waiter came over, also smiling too much as he took out his pen and pad. "Greetings Mayor Lockwood, Mrs. Lockwood, Sheriff."

"I'll have my usual steak medium rare, so will my wife. Sheriff Forbes will have-"

"Nothing, thanks. I had lunch at work." Sheriff interrupted.

"Alrighty, Sheriff. Can I getcha something to drink though?" The waiter asked, scribbling the orders down.

"Just water for now." She turned to me, "Honey, do you want something to drink?"

I thought about it, "Do you have any juiceboxes?"

The waiter looked confused, but somehow managed to keep smiling, "Yeah, we do but are you sure sweetie? They're pretty tiny, we usually only give them out to little kids."

 _Don't judge me,_ I thought as I glared at him, "Yup." I said popping my "P" as I handed him the menu on my place, "Apple if ya have it, Jacko."

He chuckled, why I don't know, as he scribbled more down, "And what do you wanna eat sweetie?"

Mayor Lockwood interrupted before I could order, "Uh, a hamburger should do just fine. Medium rare-"

"Actually, I'll take chicken tenders and fries. Please." I said before the waiter could leave.

There was a moment of awkward silence as the Waiter dismissed himself. Finally, everyone's smile was wiped right off their faces. Though, I did smirk slightly when my juicebox came, happily taking a sip as I stared down an angry Mayor Lockwood.

Round 1: Me.

Lunch continued more quietly than it had began, at least on my part. They asked me questions, which I tried to nod to or just pointed at my mouth and chewed with distinction until they moved on.

Funny thing I learned about dining with adults over the past 13 months, is that even if you don't have anything in your mouth, you can always pretend you are to avoid human-interaction and they will believe you!

By the time we all finished, I was more then ready to get away from these assholes. I'd already gone to the bathroom 4 times trying to limit the amount of time I had to suffer with them. And that damned waiter took his _sweet_ time in getting the bill. Finally though, the bill was paid and it was clear we were getting ready to leave.

"Well, we better head off to the Boarding House." Sheriff Forbes said, giving me a look after a while that I knew was meant to signal something, but I couldn't tell what. I was busy looking at the door longingly.

"We were so pleased to have you, Katy." Mayor Lockwood said, also looking at me expectantly.

I finally looked between the Sherriff and the Mayor and realized they were waiting for me to say thank you.

 _Fine, if it speeds the process of leaving along, then fine._

"Thanks." I said, grumbling slightly as I held my plastic bag of leftovers impatiently.

Clearly they weren't happy with my response, but decided it was a decent substitute for whatever else worship they wanted. Mrs. Lockwood seemed to feign slight disappointment as she said with a hand over her heart, "So soon? I feel like we were just getting to know each other."

 _Yes. Soon. If I'm lucky._ I thought.

"Well, dear we can't withhold her any longer. Damon Salvatore is expecting her." Mayor said.

 _Correct._

Then suddenly, in a plot twist worthy of Shyamalan, he snapped his fingers as if his coconut-shaped head had an idea. "Hey! I just had a thought. Liz, you've gotta get back to work soon. Why don't you let me and Carol drive Katy to the Boarding House?"

 _You can't be…_

Sheriff looked a little taken aback as she said, "Well, it is my job to dispatch the paperwork to Damon-"

"Oh paperwork can wait, it'll give us a chance to give Katy a tour on the drive."

 _You're honestly not…_

"Unfortunately, the paperwork cannot wait, I need to make a call to the agency after she's arrived-"

"Oh we'll bring it over, and Richard can make the call for you, won't you dear?"

"Of course, who better than the Mayor to assure them everything is fine?" Mayor Lockwood smiled.

 _Please God, don't! Angels and ministers of grace defend me!_ I looked anxiously over to Sheriff Forbes, praying she'd say no. And her shaking head made my heart soar, until she took a breath and said, "Fine."

 _NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!_

"Great! Liz take me to your car, and I'll pick up the paperwork. Honey, you help Katy get her things in the trunk." Mayor Lockwood said, handing Mrs. Lockwood the keys and following Sheriff Forbes out, who trailed back briefly to say goodbye to me.

Much to my dismay, Mrs. Lockwood was still talking my ear off about the town and how wonderful it was. I wished I had choked on one of my chicken fingers when I'd had the chance.

"You know honey, you could use some new clothes. Just some nice things to wear around town. I'll have to remind Damon when we see him." She said.

"I have enough clothes, thank you."

"Oh, but not nice ones." She smiled.

 _Oh gee, thanks bitch._ I stood there, feeling a little dumbfounded by that.

"Something to go with that pretty ring of yours. It's lovely, by the way." Mrs. Lockwood complimented.

It was my mother's ring. It was a band of some kind of metal that looked like silver, and it had a blue stone-like gem with a latch. A poison ring, as my mom called it. She told me that Lucrezia Borgia used a ruby one to slip arsenic into people's drinks. Mom had a similar method, except she filled the ring with vervain to deal with her fang-y customers. After she died, the ring was mine. Only, it was too big to fit on my index finger like her. I had to slip it onto my thumb so I could wear it constantly. I even improved it by rubbing the oil from the vervain plant all over the outside. Now I'm invincible!

"You know honey, I always wanted a little girl. I only have a son, see, a wonderful boy. He's in high school now."

"Really." I said without interest.

"Yes, Mr. Lockwood and I are very proud of him. Oh it's too bad we couldn't take you in, it would've been nice." She said forlornly opening the trunk and making room for my dufflebag.

 _Oh GOD no._

"But it's for the best. My husband and I are so busy, we decided we didn't have the-well, the resources to take care of you."

Something about the way she was talking got my attention, "Wait, what?"

"Oh, but feel free to visit anytime! I want us to become friends during your stay here." She said sweetly.

"Wait, what do you mean decided-"

"Girls! Are you ready to go?" Mayor Lockwood said, walking up to us with his hands in his pockets.

"Yes dear." Mrs. Lockwood said, walking towards the passenger side of the car.

"Oh here, Katy, let me get that for you." He said trying to take my dufflebag from me. I pulled away and walked towards the backseat mumbling, "No thanks, I'll keep it on me."

When I sat in the backseat, Mrs. Lockwood turned around to smile at me-or rather, continued to smile at me. She even tried to put my seatbelt on for me when I didn't, but I managed to push away her prying hands and belted myself in. The Mayor was in the front, more or less smiling but also looking like he was glaring at the same time. I glared, not bothering to pretend I wasn't as I kept my arms crossed in front of me.

"Where are the papers?" I asked, already doubtful.

Mayor Lockwood looked confused, "Papers?"

"The ones you were going to get from Sheriff Forbes."

He had a blank look on his face before he smiled, mimicking a wack towards his head, "I completely forgot. Well, Damon will have to get them from Liz himself."

I looked briefly towards Mrs. Lockwood, whose once grinning face now formed a slightly awkward, tight-lipped smile that was directed anywhere but towards me or her husband. I narrowed my eyes at them, shifting my dufflebag onto my lap before returning to my former position of crossed arms-this time leaning on my bag. The rest of the car ride was pretty much the same as lunch, although I was slightly more on guard and Mrs. Lockwood was a lot more quiet.

"Katy, tell us about some of your hobbies." Mayor Lockwood said, "Are you part of any clubs?"

"I just got here. I can't possibly be a part of _anything._ "

He took a breath, "I just mean what kind of activities do you like? What did you do with your parents for instance?"

I narrowed my eyes again, "Nothing special."

"Oh well come on, that can't be true. I'm sure you had a number of interesting things to do together. Didn't they take you on any outings?"

Now I was getting pissed. The official cause of my family's death was a drug deal gone awry. Apparently the authorities couldn't think of anything else. At this point I was used to vague platitudes and sympathy regarding this from various foster parents, but everything about this town felt like I was being probed on a lot more than just that. "I wasn't bagging heroine for them, if that's what mean."

Mrs. Lockwood looked shocked but the Mayor just kept his half-smile-half-glare, "No Katy, I'm sure you weren't. What I mean is every family has its' own habits, secret traditions if you will, and I want you to feel free to tell us all about them. After all, we in this town are like one big family."

He looked at me directly through the rearview mirror and I continued to glare at him. _Oh, I get it now_ , I thought to myself. But I wasn't going to give them what they wanted. Instead I stayed silent in the backseat until we came to a stop in front of a house. So much for that "tour" they supposedly wanted to give me.

I took off my seatbelt and went to open the car door but was stopped by a hand on my shoulder. I repressed to urge to pinch the Mayor's cuticles as I glared into his eyes.

"You know you can tell us anything, Katy. No matter how strange it may seem or impossible as it seems." He said.

I remained silent.

"Would you like to tell us anything before we go in, Katy?"

Smiling as I shifted my dufflebag more comfortably across my shoulders and replied, "Name: Katherine Margaret Weston. Rank: Eighth Grade. Zip Code: 20185."

Mayor Lockwood's fake smile completely wiped off his face and mine only broadened, "Thanks for the ride. I'll give Damon Salvatore your regards."

With that I got out of the car, flashing a small wave towards the car and stepping onto the porch. I actually grinned when I heard the sound of a car zooming off. _Haha, even his tires sound angry,_ I thought and chuckled slightly to myself, _Round 2: Me again_.


	3. Chapter Two: Paranoid? Right? Yes

Chapter Two: Paranoid? Sure. Right? Always.

I examined the front of the house that the Investigative Trio from earlier called, The Salvatore Boarding House. I guess they _really_ like sounding like a rebel base from Terminator. But I had to admit, it did look as cool as it sounded.

It was huge, meaning I already didn't like it. But then again there were a decent amount of windows that looked easily "crawl-out-able" which I guessed made up for being too big for my comfort. Although the outside greenery was pretty in the sunlight, the house itself was dark and depressing. Normally a plus, but I was already feeling hairs on the back of my neck.

I really didn't want to walk into this house.

But shrubs and lawn don't make good beds unless you're a fairy. So, I was forced to walk up to the front door and knock.

In an instant the door was opened, but instead of a guy it was a chick. She looked young, as in not 30 or older, with long blonde hair tied up in a braid down her shoulder, tan skin, and dressed like everyone else in this town who all dressed like magazine advertisements. I ask you, what's wrong with jeans and a funny T-shirt?

I noticed the woman stayed behind the door in the shade, peering out at me partially from behind the door. She was smiling and leaning casually until she looked me in the eye and suddenly stopped dead in her tracks, paled, and ceased smiling.

 _Wow, I think I finally managed to kill someone's soul just by looking at them-it's about time!_ I thought, _But why do I suddenly get the feeling that breakfast every morning will be with the new one-night stand of the week?_

Both of us stood there in silence, her looking quite shook about something and me looking at her like she was nuts. As we stared at each other I noticed just how far back in the darkened house she was, I looked briefly down at the floor where the sunlight managed to reach inside past the doorframe, her foot was stationed directly behind the edge of the light. If I could've raised an eyebrow, I would've.

"Hi!" The woman said, snapping out of it, "Can I help you?"

"I'm Katherine Weston. I prefer Katy." I introduced myself, "Do you live here?"

Despite how much I hate my name; without some adult present, foster parents will spend ten minutes arguing about your full name to confirm who you are before letting you in. I'd rather skip all that, accept my welcome cookie with the one genuine smile and hide in my room… If I get my own room. House like this, there could be _hundreds_ of kids!

In the middle of my thought, she did the-okay, fine, not the _unthinkable_ but definitely the cringe-inducing. She smiled at me, grabbed my arm and pulled me inside the house. The second I was behind the door, my duffle bag had somehow ended up on the floor beside us, while I was being crushed in this strange woman's arms. Too startled to do anything, I stood stiff as a statue.

 _Son of a bitch, I was really banking on the Salvatore House being the type of house to leave me unattended._

Pro-Tip: Go limp when someone hugs you like this. I learned the hard way that overly affectionate people take struggle as a sign that you want a tighter hug. You know, like a boa constrictor.

I pride myself that I practice what I preach and soon enough the crazy, blonde woman let go of me. She had this weird look in her eyes. They were scanning me up and down, with the slightest of smiles reaching her face. I even thought I saw a glint in her eyes.

 _If I didn't know any better,_ I thought, _I'd think she knew me. She almost seems to be expecting me, and she wasn't mentioned in the file. Maybe she's a starved-for-commitment girlfriend of Damon's. Thinking that fostering a child is a sign of future things to come._

"So, tell me Katy, what can I do for you?" She asked.

"Can you show me where to curl up with my stuff and pretend I don't exist?" A standard greeting.

She looked a little taken aback, looking more closely at me and my duffle bag. Her eyebrows arched in confusion.

"Wait, where are your mom and dad? Do they live in town? Are they picking you up?"

I felt that boa constrictor around my chest as I bit my lip.

 _Shit. She has no idea about any of this. Shit._

When entering a new foster home, even the most insensitive jerks leave any mention of parents for two weeks in. Most of my relocations were due to this ritual. When Mr. McCladden sat me down to talk about my behavior, he made the mistake of saying patronizingly "Now I know you miss your parents." While Mrs. Davinport called in a psychology major friend of hers to examine me when I threw a toaster at her. She was harping on about me calling her "Mom".

So, yeah, I was no stranger to this conversation. But, I guess, I just wasn't expecting it so soon. It felt jarring. My eyes began to sting unexpectedly. I hadn't cried in almost a year and I wasn't about to start now! And besides, I didn't want to hear about the possibility of my parents picking me up from wherever the hell I was. And I certainly didn't want to stand there and be questioned for the second or third time that day about my personal life.

I opened my mouth to retort or explain. But I felt a lump in my throat and feared I would start croaking like a frog if I said anything. So instead I turned on my heel and headed for the doorway, not looking up from my feet. I was holding back some tears that were pricking my eyes, and crying on your first day is for babies.

"Wait! Wait please!"

I looked up to suddenly find the blonde woman right in front of me. _Wait a minute…_ In the back of my mind, I retraced my steps.

 _How did she do that?_ I thought. _She was just right behind me and then… Oh no..._

Stiff as a board, I started looking her over again. All my previous emotions forgotten and my eyes were suddenly dry to the point of discomfort. She was trying to smile all friendly and polite now, but her eyes weren't in it. She was thinking about something as hard as I was. Stepping one closer to me I held back the urge to step backwards. Though I looked around for options of escape.

I was right by the staircase. And I am not a dumb character in a horror flick, I am a smart girl in a horrific situation, so there is no way in hell I'm gonna run _up the stairs!_

The woman was in front of the door I walked in through.

There were two doors on the opposite side of the room by the fireplace. Based on the bushes I saw through the stained glass, they led outside.

 _Yeah, but if she can be in front of your face in a snap second, across the room is not gonna be a problem either. You've gotta sneak out without the probably-a-vampire lady hearing you._

"Alright, now, I think we got off on the wrong foot." She said, her smile more welcoming now. I felt like I was seeing the smile Hansel and Gretel got right before entering the Gingerbread house. "I'm Lexie. I'm a friend of Stefan's. Of course, you're welcome here, Honey, I'm just new. I'm only in town for a few days and I don't know what systems or daily activities are in place. Can you cut me some slack?"

 _Maybe I should play along?_ "Fine."

She sighed with relief, "Great. Katy, it really is nice to meet you. What brings you to the Salvatore Boarding House?"

The question of whether or not I should tell her rang in my mind. What if saying I'm a foster kid was some kind of code that I was a ward of the State and wouldn't be missed? It seemed a little pointless not to though. I still didn't like not knowing what I should or shouldn't say in this scenario.

"I'm the rug-rat Damon Salvatore is supposed to foster." I said. "Ms. Dane my social worker put me in the care of the Sheriff, but she should be coming to check on me in a… Soon."

Depending on her schedule, Ms. Dane would've made a house call anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. But I wasn't about to give a time table of how long they'd need to come up with an excuse for why I was suddenly fertilizer for the shrubbery outside.

 _Maybe she's not a vampire though. Maybe you're just a paranoid freak. She's hasn't actually done anything, you're just overreacting as always!_

 _Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you._ I argued back in my head. Although, the thought occurred to me that a simple test might be in order. So in the spirit of friendly suspicion I held out my hand to the confused woman.

The hand with my mother's ring.

Lexie noticed it too. Her face flushed when she saw it, and she kind of lost her welcoming smile from before. I'm positive. She's gotta be a vampire. Before she thought I noticed, the smile was back on her face as she moved forward to take my hand, seeming to admire the ring but also narrowly avoiding direct contact with it.

"What a lovely ring! Where did you get it?" She gushed.

"It was my mom's."

"Oh, did she give it to you?" She asked, still looking at the ring.

"I grabbed it off her corpse."

The silence was as dead as my parents. It was only a minute before Lexie looked back up at me, but I could feel all sixty seconds. I tried to read her expression, but it didn't want to be read any more than I wanted to be there.

Lexie gave me a small smile, letting go of my hand-still refusing to touch the ring. "Honey, why don't you go put your stuff upstairs? I'll get us some sodas and we can chat until the boys get home."

Biting my lip, I nodded, slowly grabbing my bag and reluctantly climbing the stairs step by step. I looked behind me to see Lexie was still watching me. Another step. Still watching me. _All my stuff is in my bag. But if I insist on keeping it she might know. I think she sensed it on the ring. The heck am I gonna do! I'm trapped!_ I could feel sweat start to line my eyebrows and run down my back.

"What's your poison?"

I suddenly jerked back and looked at her. I scolded myself for the bonehead move, _Be cool, Dumbass!_

"Your… Drink?"

"Um, water, I guess."

"Great! I'm gonna get a coke, but if you change your mind let me know." She smiled. I gave a half-hearted false one and hurried up the stairs.

There was no way in hell I was drinking anything that fizzed or was non-transparent around this woman.

I found a bedroom with windows that showed the woods on the other side of the house. I tried to look beyond them to see where the town might be located, but it seemed like those woods went on forever.

Crap.

 _Okay, Katy, think. Think. Think! No town in sight. Definite vampire downstairs._

 _Well, first step is to get outside the house. Vampires can't go out in sunlight._

 _Easy, say literally anything! I want some air. I want to take a walk. I wanna look at a shrub! Who cares what I say as long as it gets me outside._

 _But what if she's preparing to eat me? And what if she insists on spending "quality time" together? If I'm too insistent on going outside she'll get suspicious. And even if I make a run for the door, what's stopping her from just using her vampire speed?_

With that thought in mind, I threw my duffle bag on the bed and unzipped. I sifted through my supplies of vampire killing equipment. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't take it all with me. But the goal was to get out of the house. And that bag was all the worldly possessions, weaponry or otherwise, that I owned.

 _Screw the T-shirts and books! JUST LEAVE!_ My inner smart-girl yelled at me.

In agreement, I shoved all the vervain I could into various pockets on my jean-jacket. I tried to shove one of the stakes up my sleeve, but upon looking at it the bulge in my right arm would definitely be noticed. I tried the back of my shirt, but there was nothing to hold it onto. Finally, I settled for shoving it in one of my Uggs.

Looking at my stuff with one last reluctant look, I knew it was time to go downstairs.

With an audible gulp, I walked slowly down the stairs, hearing Lexie futz around in the kitchen. Step by step, I went to the kitchen that was located just beside the stairs. My right foot making as gentle steps as possible.

Another word of advice: putting a stake in your boot looks cool but it's surprisingly uncomfortable. I never realized how many rigid splinters were in that thing till they were scrapping against my ankle.

The kitchen was dark as the rest of the house. An island counter with about 10 seats on one side of it. Judging by the lack of people when I first arrived, I doubted it ever held that many people here. Windows that were completely covered by shades, and no doors except the one I was passing to get in there. I looked at the thick, intricately carved wood with longing.

Lexie was pouring herself a can of coke and a tall glass of water was already waiting for me. I would've preferred to watch her pour it.

 _Oh, for Pete's sake! She's a vampire! She doesn't have to slip you a mickey to kill you!_

 _True._

Lexie smiled at me, pushing the water in front of the seat I'd chosen closet to the doorway.

"Why don't we have a little girl talk? Would you like that, sweetie?"

I took a sip of my water.

Lexie waited for my response to no avail, so she moved on. "Okay. Have you met the Salvatores yet?"

I shook my head, taking another sip.

"Well, Stefan is the one I'm really friends with. Between you and me, Damon's kind of an ass." She smiled conspiratorially at me.

I swallowed heavily, "How nice for me. I got the supposed 'ass' as my legal guardian for Doc Brown knows how long."

 _Ideally, no longer than an hour after I escape this place._

"Hey now, don't be sad." She placed a hand on mine and I jerked away suddenly, quicker than if her hand had burned me. Shoving it into my pocket and plucking at some of the vervain. Lexie backed off immediately, her hand now up in a sort of surrendering gesture. She had this awkward expression on her face, something that was surprisingly human. Confusion and a faltering confidence in how to handle the situation.

 _Or maybe that's just me projecting._

"All I'm saying is, I've never known him to care about people very much. But I've also never known him to foster a kid either. So, it might not be so bad."

I looked at her drink as I rolled a piece of vervain in my hand.

Looking back up at her sympathetic-looking face I asked, "Can I have a coke too, actually?"

Lexie perked up, "Of course, baby! I'll getcha one." The second she turned her back I stuck the tiny stalk of vervain in her soda and swirled slightly.

My heart was pounding in my chest as I pulled the plant bit out of the soda. It dripped onto the table and I quickly used the sleeve of my jacket to clean it up before she noticed. I didn't have time to put the drippy vervain stalk back in my pocket before she'd turned around, so instead I closed my fist tightly around it.

Lexie was still smiling at me warmly as she put the coke glass in front of me. I mumbled a "thanks" as I took it, but didn't take a sip. I just fingered the perspiration on the side of the glass that matched my own sweating as I waited for her to take a sip.

This was it. The ultimate test.

And the chance to escape.

But she seemed to just be waiting for me to say something. She just kept smiling at me, looking at me like she was sizing me up to eat me. _With my luck, she probably is_.

She wasn't drinking it.

I wondered if she knew. _Did she smell it, like my ring?_ My panicked mind blanked on the little training my parents had given me about vampires. I knew that most of their senses were heightened, did that include smell? Smell was kind of a big thing in the Twilight books that had come out, but I didn't know if it was as integral to real vampires.

I picked my drink up to sip it. I needed to give my hand a job to do before it started shaking. After a hefty swallow of the fizzing drink that almost felt like it burned my suddenly dry throat, I continued the conversation.

"So, how long have you known the Salvatores?"

She chuckled, "Oh! Me and them go _way_ back! Feels like centuries."

 _Oh great! That's just textbook vampire-inside-jokes. They are all vampires then. Why would God do this to me! I'm about to be eaten like a snack-pack and never heard from again! Get me out of here!_

Getting more nervous by the second, I felt my chest begin to heave a little. It was getting harder and harder to cover the terror that crept into my spine. Then my hopes raised as Lexie's glass touched her lips.

I felt like everything was in slow motion. I saw it all unfolding in front of me. The tainted coke that hit her mouth. Lexie choking up and spitting the drink out onto the counter at the same time I ran for the door. The seconds that felt like hours unlocking the door the open it. The sunlight that hit my face as I ran out. The stake in my foot throwing off my balance and making me trip just outside the door. Turning around to see Lexie was there reaching out for me weakly, only to have her hand crisped by the rays of sunlight, and realizing I was just out of her reach.

I could vaguely hear her saying something to me, but all I was focused on was getting the stake out of my shoe so I could run away into the trees. I kept my only real weapon clutched in my hands.

"Katy! Katy!" I heard her shout from the door, unable to chase after me, "KATY!"

I made it to the trees and turned around to see her still looking at me. Feeling the happiness of not dying creep over me, I smirked at her as I raised both my hands in the one (or, in this case, two) finger salute.

"You know what this means? It means I wish I had another hand, bitch!"

Then I ran off further into the woods. Time to go. Love to leave. I have to go. Looking around when I got in, I tried to orient myself so I could figure out where the road leading up to this place was. If I followed that, I could get back to town and figure out something from there.

On my left, a few yards was the gravel road that I'd been a passenger on just a few minutes before. Heading towards that, I thought to myself: _Round 3: Me._


	4. Chapter Three: Little Girl

Chapter Three: Little Girl

Sometime after Katy left, Stefan had come home early at the behest of Lexie blowing up his phone with calls and text messages. By the time he'd got there she'd drank some blood and healed from the vervain. Yet she still looked pale and terrified at the thought that anything could've happened to Katy by now. It had been nearly two hours since she'd run off.

She paced the room where Katy's dufflebag still was. Stefan sat on the bed and tried to figure out what to do next.

"What about the police station? Wouldn't she have gone there? If she was afraid of me? What if she's there right now telling them everything?"

"No. Doubtful." Stefan said, "Even on foot, she'd already be there by now and we'd know. Sheriff Forbes would've already driven her back."

"What did I do?!" She cried, her voice sounding truly hurt, "Why is she so afraid of me?"

Standing up to comfort his best friend, Stefan told her, "Lexie. Katy just lost her family, her entire life is turned upside down and now she finds out she's living with vampires."

"But I didn't do anything wrong. She still hates me, anyway!"

"I don't think you're the problem at all, Lex. You're not the reason she's scared."

Distressed and on the verge of tears, Lexie sat down on a chair with her head in her hands.

"We _need_ to call the police! I can't go outside till nightfall and by then she could be in real danger!"

"Nope. We're not doing that." A sarcastic voice announced.

They stood up to see Damon casually leaning against the doorframe. He looked somewhere between amused and annoyed at the two. His usual smirk painting his face as his next few words rang through the air.

"I'm curious. How did the two of you, after centuries of living, still manage to get outsmarted by a _child_? A twelve-year-old girl? I've gotta hear this story."

"Damon, this is not funny."

"You're right, Stefan, it's not." Damon said, the amusement no longer clouding his face. "Because after all the trouble I went through to get this kid here. Your little buddy had to screw it all up."

"What is she doing here in the first place?!" Lexie demanded.

"That's my business. For now, I need to find her before the Sheriff knows she's missing. Now what does this kid look like?"

" _You_ are not going to be the one to find her."

"Tick-tock. Tick-tock. We're burning daylight." Damon mocked. "Every second you fight me on this is a second she's somewhere off in the universe and could bring back a town of pitch-fork and stake-wielding vampire hunters. Description. NOW."

Lexie glanced angrily at the sun outside, still high in the sky. She still had to carefully avoid the windows that weren't closed around the house. She would've much preferred if Stefan was the one going out to find Katy, but there didn't seem to be a choice right now.

"She's fair. Auburn braids, just up to here." She gestured to just below the top of her rib-cage, "Blue-grey eyes."

"What was she wearing?"

"Um, blue-jean jacket and dark pants, I think. She had some tan Uggs she used to hold a stake when she was running away."

Damon nodded, "No accounting for the kid's style but she's crafty. Or at least, she's smarter than the two of you combined. Maybe there is hope for the education system."

Lexie was about to lunge at Damon if Stefan hadn't held her back, his brother only looking on cheerfully.

"Laters." Faster than lightning, Damon was out the door.

Stefan let Lexie go and assured her, " _I'll_ find her. I promise she'll be safe."

Lexie looked tearful, "I haven't seen her since she was a baby. Fresh and new." Her voice cracked, "Please, make sure she's okay."

"She doesn't know you, Lex. She's a kid who lost her family. I'm sure she's just confused and on edge." Stefan consoled. Though he had to ask a question that had been bugging him for a while now. "Are you sure it's even her?"

Lexie gave Stefan a look, "If I wasn't sure before she tried to roofie me with vervain, I'm positive now. How many little girls named Katherine Weston toting stakes and vervain do you know?"

He smiled slightly, "Not many. I just better find her before Damon does and she tries something similar. Not that I wouldn't love to see that."

The two hugged quickly before Stefan sped out of the room to follow his brother. All the while, Lexie had no choice but to wring her hands and wait for them to return with the little girl she wanted nothing more than to see safe and sound, again.

Walking over to her own bag of stuff she pulled out a small, old envelope from a zippered section. It was full of polaroids from over ten years ago. They featured herself, a couple, and a newborn.

It was just when the 90's had ended, so Lexie had been dressed in one of those pink and blue stripped, neon tops over light designer jeans outfits. Her long blonde hair tied with a braid down her shoulder.

The couple were very light and dark. The woman was about as tall as Lexie with similarly long hair, only bright red and wavy. Her dark grey eyes were thin and narrow. Normally a little intimidating, but they turned friendly when she smiled-like in the photo. She had on a shapeless blue dress with only a belt over her middle. Lexie recalled how much she'd hated that dress on Sarah. Time and time again telling her it didn't show off her amazing hourglass figure properly. But she'd just given birth at the time, so there was no arguing with her about how comfortable it was. The man in the photo was about a head shorter than the women, with black jheri curls that wouldn't be tamed. They would've hung in his blue eyes if not for the thin spectacles he wore, which acted as a barrier. The black sweater with the white collar poking out underneath somehow made him look even more pale than he was, but it did do well to fill out his twig-like frame.

The baby wasn't really distinguishable to the naked eye. In the photo, she just looked like a little, red lump of baby fat with especially large eyes poking out. Blue-grey, like a marble cake mix of her parents' traits. Baby Katherine Margaret Weston.

She wasn't as plump as the picture made her look. In reality, Katy had been born almost 2 months early. Even after being allowed to come home she was tiny. When you held her, she felt like the most fragile little thing in the world. It made anyone who touched her act especially gentle with the newborn.

Looking at that picture, with the proud parents, it was no doubt that the little girl who'd shown up that day was the baby in the photo. She still looked like a hodge-podge of her family. Yet she clearly didn't just inherit physical traits from them. Katy also inherited her father's quick mind and her mother's even quicker temper. Based on how she ran away without even a bit of recognition for who Lexie was.

"I guess it was too much to ask that they tell you about me, huh?" The woman said miserably, holding the photos to her chest.


End file.
